TD Jakes - Counterintuitive Disciplines
I want to talk to you about counterintuitive disciplines, and if that went over your head, then I’ll just say that if you can get down, you can get up. Hallelujah!
It is counterintuitive, Father, that we should be called the saints of God when it seems that we are but sinners; yet you call us saints. It doesn’t make sense, but you did it. Abraham believed you, and it was counterintuitive that you would take faith and count it to him as righteousness, but you did it. As we stand in this grace, this nameless grace, this undefinable grace, we ask you to open our hearts and minds to hear, learn, and develop because we don’t want to be a nebulous group of people with no understanding of who we are and what we believe. We want to be informed with the power and understanding that empowers us to serve you in the spirit of humility and yet intelligently. We believe you for a pressed-down, shaken-together, running-over miracle, and we thank you for all those who couldn’t be here physically but insist on being online because they value and cherish what you’re about to say. Have your way in this place in Jesus' name. Amen.
Okay, remain standing; we’re going to read the Word of God. I did it backwards, but it’s okay—when you’re a pastor, you do stuff like that. The Gospel of Saint Mark, chapter 7, verse 24. We’ll read down, I think, to verse 31. Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, yet he could not keep his presence a secret. Good Lord! In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. First, Jesus said, «Let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.» «Lord,» she replied, «even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.» Then he told her, «For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.» Good God Almighty! She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon had gone. Can you say Amen?
Okay, I already prayed, so you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Thank you. Counterintuitive means contrary to intuition or common sense expectations, but still true. In other words, counterintuitive means it doesn’t make sense, but it’s still right. It’s very similar to oxymorons like a cold burn or hot ice—those types of things that don’t make sense, and yet they are true. In an elongated form, it becomes a situation like «Let the poor say I’m rich.» That’s counterintuitive and often difficult for a poor person to do; yet the Bible commands—not suggests—that the weak say, «I’m strong.» Okay, so your confession might be contrary or counterintuitive to your situation.
In a few moments, we’ll examine a story where Satan has taken over territory in this woman’s house and has made it impossible for her to ignore him any longer. But before we do that, and before we start putting our personal bag into all the situations that may be going on in our life—at our job and in our situation, making this scripture fit—let us take just a moment and do a disclaimer. This disclaimer is important for spiritual people because spiritual people tend to spiritualize everything. I grew up in the old church, baby, where everything was a demon: «You cook? Demon! Drinking demon, come out in the name of Jesus! Smoking demon, come out right now in the name of Jesus! Short dress-wearing demon, come out! You see that girl with the bare legs? Demon! Put those stockings on!» Everything was a demon!
Likewise, today it is easy to take a family crisis and demonize what deserves to be humanized. The truth of the matter is, it may not be the devil that tore up your marriage. I’m not saying it wasn’t, but let’s open ourselves to the possibility that maybe the way you treated each other has something to do with the demise of the marriage. Maybe you’re giving Satan credit for things you could have changed, but you call it a demon, plead the blood over it, and say the devil is a liar, never admitting that you lied. It’s important for us to deal with this because sometimes, when we’re in trouble, we get amnesia. We remember what they did to us, but we forget what we did.
This work is difficult because it challenges the narrative you told yourself. Our narratives make us comfortable; they put us in a situation where we are blameless. When you write the story, you’re always the hero. I’ve never seen anybody write a story about themselves where they came out the villain. So you have to watch the stories you tell yourself—and then believing those stories—especially when it comes to relationships: not just marital relationships but also between mother and daughter, father and son, sister and brother, co-worker and customer. Sometimes we tell ourselves a story that negates the stimulus that elicited an unfavorable response.
So, while you focus on the response they gave you, you absolve yourself of the stimulus. Let me bring it. I know this is counterintuitive, so I have to work on it. Have you ever loaned someone money, and they got mad because you asked for it back? Thank you! I mean, they fell out with you and stopped speaking to you. Now you are the demon! «How dare you!» They think you’re so much—yet they didn’t think that when they borrowed the money. But we have a way of getting amnesia, and we tell not only ourselves but also other people the story we want them to believe because we need support in the lie. We seek validation, and sometimes we manipulate situations to make ourselves look heroic, never resolving issues and wondering why sickness comes through dis-ease. This dis-ease exists not because it runs in your family, not because you’re getting older, but because you never deal with issues.
So, there might be a reason why your daughter resents you. You know it’s a problem now; you can’t say anything. The other day I ran into a clip where someone just posted, «Honor thy father and thy mother.» I thought, «Oh, that’s wonderful!» I read the comments, you know, and how could you argue about honoring thy father and thy mother? A fight broke out in the comments, «It depends on the mother, and it depends on the father!» «I never honor my mother; I haven’t spoken to her in 10 years.» «I’m not honoring her; I don’t even know who my father is!» All their personal pain started coming up in the comments, and they wanted to adjust the text to fit the trauma.
I’m not saying all mothers are honorable or all fathers are honorable, but that wasn’t what the scripture said. It didn’t say if they deserve it, thank you; because if you can be a recipient of a grace you don’t deserve, then you have to open up to the possibility that you are to extend a grace that you don’t deserve. You cannot hope people are held hostage to what they did while you seek liberation and become an abolitionist against your flavor of sin while incarcerating me because I took a different flavor, but it was all sin. This Baskin-Robbins situation that exists in our lives allows us to have grace for what we like. It is easy for a wife to say, «He’s not a good husband,» because it bypasses the possibility that maybe she wasn’t the best wife. Or for a daughter to say, «You weren’t a good mother.» But could it be possible that you weren’t a great daughter?
Maybe Mama didn’t handle it correctly, but stimulus and response need to get better. I’m not absolving the response; you have to own your part in the issue. You have to not only own your part but come to grips where you can admit, «I was wrong about that. I didn’t handle that at my best. I’m sorry you feel that way.» Perhaps when Mama raised you, she was in sin, and that’s why all those uncles were coming into your house. Now I’m saved, and I’m talking about how you could do that without understanding that you are reflecting my behavior because I have amnesia. Healing starts when Jesus says, «Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.» Part of this is understanding, owning my own failures and flaws. It seems counterintuitive that admitting it would bring liberty, but it does!
To own it and say, «I wasn’t right about that,» means you can’t keep stabbing me once I’m already dead. I’ve already said I was wrong, so we can’t spend the next 20 years with you accusing me of something I already said I was wrong about. Come on! Ownership doesn’t mean I have to spend the rest of my life walking around in condemnation because I understand that he whom the Son has set free is free indeed. However, I must have the sensitivity to recognize that there’s a reason why you don’t like to come over to my house. Instead of just saying, «He’s just not friendly; he just doesn’t like the rest of us,» you don’t know the backstory that created the dilemma in the first place. Oh, I’m getting deep! Yeah, I love it when y’all get quiet.
The truth of the matter is, retaining relationships is not organic. It doesn’t happen just because it’s supposed to. Kids don’t love parents because they’re supposed to, and sometimes parents don’t love kids just because they’re supposed to. Are you hearing what I’m saying? The wedding is an indication of love and commitment with vows that we all agreed to but very seldom keep. We vow to be there for better and for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others and cleaving only unto one another. «Do you?» «I do!» «I do!»
Yeah, we’re for 49.99, tuxes on and a clip-on tie waiting on our heads, and we agree to stuff that we break easily. This then empowers the other person to create pain because they want vengeance; they want you to feel as much hurt as they did. Sometimes people hurt you because you hurt them, and until one of you drops out of the hurting game and gets into the forgiveness and mercy game, the house will be chaotic. Everybody is so busy blaming that you can’t have good communication because communication in your house looks like, «I’m just waiting for you to finish so I can tell you about your mama.»
There you are, sitting up saying, «I wasn’t listening to anything you were saying. I wasn’t taking anything in; I was just waiting for you to take a breath so I could jump in and tell you about your crazy, nappy-headed sister who ran up on me in the backyard at the picnic like she had lost her mind.» Where is the lie? I’m just telling you the truth. A lot of times we blame things on the devil without taking responsibility for the fact that we provoked certain behaviors to occur and created situations that we think are demonic. I don’t want you to force your situation into this text if the only devil in your story could have been you.
We have to address the possibility that you could have been wrong, or handled it wrong, or responded wrong, or reacted immaturely. We have to address that, or I weaponize you to be further dysfunctional by giving you a text you can beat her over the head with all the way home saying, «See! The Lord told you this!» You know we weaponize the scriptures more than just against demons; we weaponize the scriptures against each other. Instead of being my partner, you become my pastor.
It’s going to be interesting—sit right up because I ain’t got to the good part yet. It’s going to be good up in here! You think you’re watching HBO today. It’s going to be one of those Cinemax sermons! So, we have to deal with the psychological and sociological parts of reality in our situations. We might have been contributors, benefactors, or in some way complicit in the pain in our own lives. It could be possible that they didn’t fire you because you were black; it could be possible that they fired you because you were gone for lunch for two hours, came in late three days out of the week, and you type crooked, upside down, and can’t spell! I mean, I’m just saying—I’m just bringing up a possibility.
I’m not saying anything; don’t write me about this. It could be possible that they don’t dislike you because you’re a woman; they could dislike you because you’re never on time, you’re never prepared, you’re coming to the meeting late, and when somebody confronts you, you burst into tears. I’m just saying! The third thing I want to clear up and bring to your attention is the eschatology of it all. One of the signs of the end times is that mothers will be against daughters and fathers will be against sons. The closer we get to the end times, the more difficult it becomes to maintain healthy relationships. Remember, one of the signs of the end times is the deterioration of the family means that what was natural for your grandmother becomes difficult for you.
Part of the reason they were married for 63 years and you were married for only 63 minutes might have something to do with the fact that what used to be natural isn’t natural anymore. People are not always equipped with natural affections; they don’t come in here just naturally knowing how to love, they don’t come in here naturally knowing how to be nice, and they don’t come in here naturally knowing that if they see someone carrying six boxes up the steps, they ought to say, «Can I help you?» That’s a lost art; that’s gone, that’s not there anymore.
One of the signs of the end times is fighting coming from strange places. Some of you are having to fight at work, fight at home, fight at church, and fight all the time. You are so stressed out you’re overwhelmed and you don’t recognize we’re living in the end times, and natural affections have eroded from our families so much that it is no longer normal to love your mother, your wife, or your husband. If you post that you do, someone is going to criticize you for doing so because we’re living in the last days, where people have lost all natural affections. Any time you can have a baby and toss it into a trash can and then get in the car and smoke a joint, you have lost all maternal instincts. Any time you can have children with this woman, that woman, and that woman, and take care of none of those children while never feeling bad about it, and then have the nerve to be hurt that they didn’t call you on Father’s Day, you have to ask, «Why in the world should they call you on Father’s Day?»
You have not been a father; you have not been a daddy; you have not been a provider; you haven’t been present; you haven’t been a person. Come on, we have to own some of this stuff. Check this out: Luke 12:49–53. I want you to understand that some of this is just as sure as this crazy weather is a sign of the end times; this is also a sign of the end times. Jesus said, «I came to set fire to the Earth, and I wish it were already on fire.» Is it not burning? Is the ocean not as hot as a jacuzzi? I’m sorry to stop there; I’m going to be put to a hard test, and I will have to suffer a lot of pain until it is over. Do you think that I came to bring peace to the earth? No, indeed! I came to make people choose sides.
Isn’t that where we’re living right now? Everybody is taking a side. The spirit of division has broken out; you have to take a side. You can’t be neutral; you can’t be in the middle. They’re killing you because of the side you’re on. A family of five will be divided, two of them against the other three. It’s going to split families apart. Fathers and sons will turn against one another, and mothers and daughters will do the same. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law will also turn against each other. Touch your neighbor and say, «I’m living in the Bible.»
So we’ve got two categories: the things we contributed to, the things we caused, the things we will not own, and the things that are a result of the times we’re living in. We’re living in the last days, and you can no longer watch «Mayberry» with Aunt Bee and bacon apple pie cooling in the window and have Andy come home to Opie who eats the pie. All that stuff is over. That Lucy is hitting Desi over the head with an AK-47! Y’all don’t even know what I’m talking about. I’m too old to make that illustration, but for those of you that got it, you understand that we’re living in the last times, and it’s difficult to hold it together.
So forgive yourself for having a tough time holding relationships together. Forgive yourself for being weary. Forgive yourself for being exhausted. Forgive yourself for being tired. Forgive yourself for being at your wit’s end. Forgive yourself for coming to a point of desperation. Forgive yourself for feeling unmotivated to say anymore, to give anymore, to forgive anymore, to apologize anymore, to plan anymore, to sow anymore. Understand that you’re fighting an end-time fight; you’re fighting an apocalyptic war in your house. You’re fighting the attack of the enemy through the times that we’re living in. Once you check off, «Did I cause it? Did I contribute to it? Am I remembering it correctly?»
Once you get past that, once you get past— and I don’t trust you to do it—a self-test, you have to ask some other people how you came across in the situation because you will exonerate yourself in your own head. Once you get past that, I want you to understand that we’re living in the last days and it’s hard to hold anything together: your business, your marriage, your mother, your daughter, your auntie, your in-law. How many feel a force fighting against you with simple things that used to be easy? It used to be easy just to invite people over for dinner; it used to be easy to have a family picnic; it used to be easy for us to go on vacation; it used to be easy to take a drive.
Now you have to take the temperature and see if it’s the right day to ask them and see if they’re in the right mood. Now you have to discern their eyes; now you have to try out a little easy question on her and see if it’s okay. Now you have to figure out who makes the potato salad, and now you have to put up with a cereal bowl of potato salad because Helen is stingy, and you have 30 people with just a cereal bowl. Am I telling the truth? People have lost all common sense! Here you come in with this cereal bowl, talking about, «Here it is,» and you can’t even find it. You act like you can’t count, and you wonder why we got an attitude because we have to run to Kroger in the middle of the barbecue.
Now we’re peeling potatoes, and you want a doggie bag to go home! Tell the truth! Come on, somebody shout me down! Somebody just shout me down; the first one to grab a bag has to have some of that when they leave! What happened to that? When you were making that potato salad, you don’t say anything because that could be a 10-year war over a bowl of potato salad. But you stop inviting them, and now the family’s acting funny. I’m talking about real-life issues. Jesus says that in the last days mothers will be against daughters; that is how it hurts us. Fathers will be against sons; that would be unheard of if we were not alive today.
Now it is more likely for families to hate each other than to love each other. We grew up where family love could be dependent on whether you jumped on one of us; you had to jump on all of us. If you said something to my sister, there’s a part of me that would leap off this stage right now and go back to the school bus. But what used to be natural is not natural anymore. The truth of the matter is that this woman is dealing with a demon. What drove her to Jesus is that she is, in fact, living with a demonic power that’s manifesting in someone she loves.
What do you do when you’re trying to drive out what you don’t love and save what you do love? What do you do when you’re trying to kill the cancer and save the kidney? What do you do when you’re trying to drive out the demon without the child leaving the house? What do you do when you’re trying to bind the devil and cause the child to be free? What do you do with what you hate has gotten into what you love? What do you do when you’ve said everything you know how to say, you’ve been as kind as you know how to be, you’ve been as loving as you know how to be, and still a demon is standing up looking at you in the face? Touch somebody and say, «This is a job for Jesus.»
There are some people listening to me right now who have bent over backward and forward; you’ve gotten down on the floor, you’ve cried, and you’ve prayed. Nothing you do seems to be enough. This is a job for Jesus! If I’m talking to you, make some noise in this house! Oh my God! I feel something! I feel something; I feel like something’s about to break loose in this place! This is a job for Jesus! This is a job for Jesus! It’s such a job for Jesus! It’s not just deacons seeking Jesus; it’s not just church mothers seeking Jesus; it’s not just an intercessory board seeking Jesus. We have drug dealers coming to church saying, «This is a job for Jesus.» We have potheads coming to church saying, «I need a breakthrough; I have to come to Jesus.»
We have women coming, and we have strippers in here who came to Jesus because they tried everything, and everything failed, and if Jesus doesn’t give me an answer, I’m going to blow my brains out! Somebody’s watching me right now; you’re not even a Christian, you’re just a desperate person tired of living with a demonic situation. Glory to God! I feel like you’re going to get a breakthrough in here today! Hell is nervous, demons are tense, Satan is upset, and yes, I know there’s a witch watching, but I’m not scared of you because greater is He that is in me than he that’s in the world! Somebody give Him 30 seconds of praise! Touch three people and tell them, «The devil is watching! The devil is watching! The devil is watching! The devil is watching! The devil is watching!»
Then look at them and say, «I don’t even care! I don’t even care! I don’t care! I don’t care what they say! I don’t care what they do! I don’t care how they act! I came to see Jesus!» And I won’t let you go until He blesses me! I’m just on point two! I haven’t got to three, four, and five. I’ve got to get where I’m going! I got a girlfriend! Now I want you to understand something about this text; we’ve talked about crumbs and loaves and bread, but I want to talk about something we don’t normally discuss: The Disappearance of Jesus. The Bible says that when Jesus came into Tyre, He entered into a house and kept it a secret that He was there. Yet when He left that place, He went to the vicinity of Sidon. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, yet He could not keep His presence a secret.
We’re talking about Jesus; He has a clear sense that this is not a city that would be receptive to His ministry. He has a clear sense of not being called to the people of Tyre and Sidon. He has a clear sense of His mission. Do you have a clear sense of your mission, or are you just called to preach? Or are you just going—what kind of restaurant? What kind of service? What do you have—fast food, short-order, delivery? Do you have a clear sense of mission? Don’t start a mission if you don’t have a clear sense! He wasn’t generic; He understood that He wasn’t for everybody.
Are you allowing yourself to be hurt over the rejection of somebody you’re not even called to? He had a clear sense of His purpose and mission. He had a clear sense that He was not generic, and He recognized that He wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea—and He was cool with it! He was cool with being controversial; He was cool with being an outcast in certain circles. He didn’t keep contorting Himself into other forms trying to get everybody to like Him until He lost all sense of identity, twisting Himself over and over into all kinds of shapes trying to fit into the mold of people who’ve already made up their minds that they don’t want you. They don’t want you, so you might as well stand up and be who you are! He was specific. Given that He was in Tyre, He chose to reside away from people He wasn’t sent to. He wasn’t wasting time knocking on doors of people He wasn’t sent to.
Oh my God, I might not make it to the end! There are some situations you avoid, like Moses putting a veil over his face. Remember when he came down off the mountain and had been with God, and his face was lit up with glory? But the glory he had wasn’t for the people he saw! I’m going to say that again—the glory he had wasn’t for the people he saw. So he hid, as it were, his face. For Jesus to be hiding in the house is like Moses hiding his face. Sometimes God will hide His glory. Do you realize Jesus rose from the dead and only showed Himself alive to His disciples? He hid from everyone else. Stop trying to make people see what they refuse to see! Stop trying to make people believe what they don’t believe! Stop trying to make people want what they don’t want! I got up and fixed breakfast the other day for my grandkids. I made homemade biscuits, fried apples, and sausage, and my wife scrambled some eggs, and they said, «We don’t want it!»
We want McDonald’s. When I was younger, I had to pitch a hissy fit. Now that I’m older, I say thank you very much. I went downstairs, entered my quarters, and kept on going because I’m not trying to change you for three days over something that has been sitting in you for 13 years. I know not to do that anymore; I won’t be doing that for the rest of the trip. I never entered the kitchen again; I hid myself in the gentleman’s quarters and let them go to McDonald’s because my peace is worth it. My peace is worth it. I’m not going to fuss at you, trying to get you to eat your broccoli. My peace is worth it. I’m too old to have those kinds of arguments; I’ve been there, done that, got a T-shirt.
McDonald’s is on the corner; at the red light, turn left. I’m not mad or anything; I’m not even frustrated. You can’t open yourself up to everyone; I’ve heard this concept preached over and over again, and I preach it myself repeatedly. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard this point expounded on; sometimes the gospel is hidden. The reason, as a whole, was a region that He wasn’t sent to. We see what happened, but we don’t see why. We read little blurbs on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook blogs. You don’t know the backstory. The backstory has everything to do with the story. You came to the family reunion; you saw us acting funny. You don’t know what happened when we were seven; you don’t know what happened when we were 12. You don’t know that we’re five different families gathering.
Come on, let’s talk to His people; where are my real people? There are some things that you are too precious to fight about, and you shouldn’t try to make yourself go where you’re not sent. Remember the early Church in the book of Acts? The Bible said that the Spirit of God constrained us from entering certain cities. Remember what Jesus told the disciples? He said if you go into a house and they don’t receive you, shake the dust from your feet and leave swiftly. Some of us are at the age now; I don’t have time to argue about eggs or bacon. I’m better than that. Go get what you like: Denny’s, IHOP, or Waffle House. I’m not going to argue with anybody about anything. I can have peace about that.
The second thing I want you to notice is that Jesus does not come into power expecting to be seen. While almost anyone else would want to be seen, Jesus wants to be hidden. He is hidden in the house. Somebody say He’s hidden in the house. Say it again: He’s hidden in the house. Say it again: He’s hidden in my house. He’s hidden in my situation. Jesus is hidden somewhere in the hospital room; He’s hidden somewhere in the court case. Jesus is hidden somewhere in the dilemma. Jesus is hidden everywhere; all I have to do is find Him. All I have to do is knock, and the door shall be opened. All I have to do is ask, and it shall be given. All I have to do is seek, and ye shall find. He’s hidden in the house; He’s hidden in your problem; He’s hidden in your storm; He’s sitting in your crisis; He’s hidden in your dilemma.
I feel something pushing me in the back; I’m trying not to preach, but I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost. Something is about to happen in this place. He’s hidden; He’s hidden in your problem; He’s hidden in your dilemma; He’s hidden in your crisis; He’s hidden in your circumstance. Glory to God! Hallelujah! I feel a blessing about to hit this place. Stop somebody and tell them He’s in there. You may have to find Him, but He’s in there. You may have to look for Him, but He’s in there. You may have to travel, but He’s in there. You may have to walk alone, but He’s in there. You may have to get down on the floor, but He’s in there. Shout a Hallelujah! Look at Jesus' unassuming manner; He is hidden in the house.
Remember that Jesus is the one who healed masses of people and told them not to tell anybody. Look at the attitude of Jesus compared to the attitude of Christians; we want to tell everybody. Jesus did more and asked less. He even said don’t tell anybody that I healed you. Jesus is hidden in the house, and the Bible says that, in spite of the fact that He wanted to be hidden, the glory that was on Jesus was so strong it could not be hidden, which brings me to this conclusion: real glory cannot be hidden. When you’re the real deal, you don’t have to tell me you’re the real deal. When you’ve got the real stuff, you don’t have to say, «I’ve got the real stuff,» because real glory cannot be hidden.
Stop telling me who’s fighting your ministry; stop telling me who’s got their foot on you. If I can put my foot on you, God didn’t send you, because if God sent you, He’ll break my foot; He’ll make me move. Real glory cannot be hidden. I want somebody with some real glory to give it about 10 seconds of a crazy praise! All right! Trust somebody and say, «I can’t keep it a secret! I can’t keep it a secret! I can’t keep it a secret! I can’t keep it a secret!» Tell Ray, in the old church, we used to have testimony service, and I’d get up to testify, and when I came to myself, I’d be standing in the middle of the aisle preaching. I was so embarrassed; I’d run back to my seat.
I didn’t want nobody to think I was a preacher. But real glory cannot be hidden. It’ll come out in your speech; it’ll come out in the shower; it’ll come out while they’re doing your hair. If God has anointed you, you’ve paid the price for your peace. If God has sent you, you cannot be stopped. I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but God is about to loose somebody. God is about to break the chain. God is about to open the door. Shout to God with the voice of triumph! I can’t hide it! I came to hide it! I can’t hide it! I can’t hide it! I can’t hide it! Look at your neighbor and say, «I came to hide it.» It’s like fire shut up in my bones. It’s like fire shut up in my soul. Holy Ghost fire! Oh my God!
Can I go just a little bit deeper? Sit down for a minute; I’m going a little deeper. You’ve got to hide in Jesus. Hello? I can’t find Him; you’ve got to hide in Jesus. A desperate woman—when you bring those two things together, there’s going to be a cataclysmic explosion. There’s going to be a combustible reality; there’s going to be an ignition. When you’ve got a desperate woman and a hiding Jesus, before the story is over, a yoke will be broken; our bondage will be destroyed. See, God isn’t going to move until you’re desperate.
As long as you’re more concerned about what you’ve got on than about getting a breakthrough, you’re not going to get a touch from God. But if I had a hundred desperate people, a yoke would break in this place. Let me leave with some desperate people. Touch your neighbor and tell them, «Excuse me, but I’m desperate. I don’t have time to worry about what you think; I don’t have time to worry about what you’ve got on; I don’t have time to worry about whether you like me or not. I’ve got a devil to fight! I’ve got a devil after my family; I’ve got a devil after my peace. I’m desperate! I need a touch from the Lord! I don’t need it next Thursday; I don’t need it next Sunday; I need a breakthrough right now! I’m desperate! I’m desperate! I’m desperate for Jesus! I need a breakthrough! I came in late, but I’m desperate for Jesus! I spent all my gas money, but I’m desperate for Jesus! I came where I’ve never been before, but I’m desperate for Jesus!
Somebody give Him 30 seconds of praise! Don’t judge me! Don’t judge me! I’m desperate! Don’t roll your eyes at me; I’m desperate! I came here to get a miracle! I came here to get a touch! I’m desperate! I’ve got a devil to fight, and I’m desperate! If I don’t fight this devil, he’ll get my child; he’ll get my son. I need some radical parents! I need some radical young people! Somebody get crazy in here! Oh, this is not for the distinguished; this is not for the intellectual. This is a word for desperate people. Are there any desperate people in this house today? Identify yourself! Come out, come out, wherever you are! Hello! I’m desperate! I won’t let it go till He blesses my soul! I’m desperate in spirit! I won’t let it go! Can I bless myself?
Ah, I need You! I need You! I need You! I know You’re busy, but I need You! I know I’m not on your agenda, but I need You! Is there anybody here for it? If I’ve got to crawl, if I’ve got to call, if I’ve got to crawl, if I have to crawl, if I have to cry, I’ve got to have it! I’ve got a devil in my house; I’ve got a devil in my head. I’ve got a devil in my mind! Open up the door! I’m looking for Jesus. Is He in this house? Is He in that house? Is He in this house? I’m looking for Jesus. Whatever it takes! I need a touch from the Lord! If I don’t get a touch from the Lord, I don’t care whose house He’s in! I don’t care what neighborhood He’s in! Wherever I’ve got to go, I’m willing to go to get a touch from the Lord! If I’ve got to go by myself, I’ll go by myself! I’m desperate!
Where are my desperate people? I’m tired of church members; I need some radical, relentless, tenacious, desperate people! Open your mouth and holler, „Hallelujah!“ The anointing of the Holy Ghost is in this place right now, but it’s not for everybody. It’s passing over people that are indifferent, passing over people that are satisfied, passing over people that are comatose. I’m looking for desperate people! Hallelujah! Desperate folks, this is your Sunday! People at your wit’s end, this is your Sunday!
People who have tried everything and everything has failed, this Sunday is for you! People who don’t have anything else to give! People who don’t have anything else to say! This is your Sunday! This is your moment! This is your time! This is your second half! I feel a breakthrough about to happen in your life! Who am I preaching to? Who am I preaching to? I realize that Jesus did not come to the woman; the woman came to Him. There’s a group of folks in the church today who are sitting back saying, „If God meant for me to have it, He’ll give it to me.“ You’re wrong! If you don’t come for it, you won’t get it! If you don’t knock, the door won’t open; if you don’t ask, you won’t get the answer; if you don’t seek Him, you won’t find Him!
Look at somebody and tell them, „It’s up to you!“ Anyway, I’m going to pray for those of you that are online, for those of you that are watching on the internet who’ve got a devil to fight. It’s one level at the office; by the time I get off at five o’clock, I can leave you here till the next day. It’s one thing to have a devil at church; I only come twice a week! Give me five days, and I ain’t got to be bothered with you. But when I’ve got a devil in my house, that means day and night, every time I get up and every time I lay down, I’ve got to deal with that same old devil. It is not a person you fight—there’s nothing wrong with the person who has a devil to fight. Some of you have generational devils to fight. Some of you are fighting a devil in your own head. It’s not about another person; it’s the devil in your own head that makes you sabotage everything good that God wants to give you. You keep fooling with it till you tear it up, and then you cry because it’s gone. Oh! Hey! You’ve got a devil to fight!